


You Always Forget Boulder

by Ephialtes



Series: Once and Future [2]
Category: Arthurian Mythology
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Dialogue Heavy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 02:18:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12201903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ephialtes/pseuds/Ephialtes
Summary: Merlin may be the last of his kind, but there are still those that don't like watching him mope.





	You Always Forget Boulder

Merlin was drunk. Drunk enough that he should have been cut off four drinks ago, but the bartender just kept serving him with an odd, glassy-eyed look.

He was just starting on the latest of his glasses when a woman delicately dropped herself in the seat to his right. She was tall and pale, with long red hair spilling down her back. The bartender moved towards her, but she just flicked a finger at him, and he moved off just as suddenly, strangely intent on cleaning a section of the bar far away from the two.

“Fuck off, Morgana, and go ‘way,” Merlin slurred at the woman, blinking slightly as his brain caught up with his tongue. She just gave him an amused, green-eyed stare, reaching out to stroke his hair soothingly. He flailed in response, attempting to fend her off, but instead nearly fell off his stool, only catching himself at the last second.

“Darling, why do you do this to yourself?” Morgana asked softly. “This is what, the thirty-sixth time now?”

“Thirty-sev’nth,” Merlin responded, quickly giving up on trying to push Morgana away, resting his head on the bar instead. “You always forget Boulder.”

“I’m still not convinced Boulder was them,” Morgana responded gently.

“Of course it was them!” Merlin replied hotly, his voice raising to a shout. “It’s always fucking them. Salvador, that was them. London was them, twice! Boulder. Was. Them.”

Heads were beginning to turn now, conversations stopping. Morgana frowned, a ripple of power spreading through the air. As if switch had been flicked, attention was suddenly off them again, voices picking up discussions as if they'd never paused in the first place. “You’re slipping, darling.”

“Fuck off,” Merlin repeated. “If you’ve just come to remind me what a fuck up I am, you can consider me reminded.”

“I’m just saying, darling, you have a tendency to… project a little when it comes to them. I mean, you spent six years following around those teenagers in York only to realise you were on the wrong continent,” Morgana pointed out, her voice kind.

Melin sighed. “Stupid name for a city anyway, I thought it just meant the new part.” He glared at Morgana half-heartedly. “Will you  _please_  go away? Leave me to wallow in peace.”

Morgana’s gaze sharpened on him. “That’s quite enough self-pity for one decade,” she said cooly. “I’m cutting you off.” She waved her hand once, and Merlin tensed, his face twisting in pain. “Twenty years should do.”

“I hate you,” he snapped, his voice sharper, words more precise than they had been mere moments ago. “That was mean.”

“Then undo it,” Morgana said uncaringly. “Oh, no, wait,” she said, snapping her fingers. “You can’t. There was a time when even I couldn’t touch you,” she murmured, her tone softening. “This can’t go on forever.”

“Good,” Merlin retorted, dragging himself upright. “Well now you’ve ruined my evenings for the foreseeable future, I hope you have a shit night.”

Morgana just laughed, waving him away. “Good night, darling. See you next century.” She picked up the drink he’d left, attention no longer on him.

Merlin flipped her off, staggering out of the door. A blast of night air blew into the room and he was gone.


End file.
